I did notice the rewriting note, but maybe there are some pointers: The story it's interesting, however, the MC has some inconsistencies, being an Engineer with Military expertise and especially an American should know some strategic points that need to be prioritized: 1) Intelligence it's key, also it's usually divided into inner intelligence agencies or even has some specialized, take the USA as an example: CIA, Homeland Security, FBI, and some others from the Armed Services, Police used to build their own too, UK have MI5 and MI6, among others. 2) Technology building: DARPA: development of air, water ships, or land transports, mostly secretly, in deep underground facilities or inconspicuous places, also helps in war times, you can check: China Iron Wall project, Sweeden underground facilities, among others. 3) It calls my attention to how worldbuilding establishes waterways across the Continent, but MC prefers railways and it's not wrong to do, so if you want to strengthen your domain, waterways transport it's the cheapest because beats the volumes transported, say: 1 container ship can carry up to 24,000 TEUs, this feat can not do it with railroad transports, even double decks it will be kilometers of carriers cars, the shipbuilding industry very important, also helps with strategic industries like submarines or high altitude airplanes, very useful in spying or covert and shadow ops. 4) Infrastructure, Oil (chemicals), and electricity: strategic keys to civilization developments. About firearms: there's a myth usually in novels: powder invention doesn't mean instant development of their use in war, it took hundreds of years to see like that, even their use in proficient ways took nearly 200 years, from muskets to revolvers or rifles, it need nitrocellulose, even from cannon balls to artillery shells, also: even in the US civil war the use of balloons was normal, it took almost 50 years to find the better way to aerial use of surveillance: the airplane, and it took long time to figure out all comes to wing angle to help the uplift, to start flying.
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I will keep this in mind. Thank you.
